The present invention relates to a binding off method for casting off to prevent loosening of stitches at an end of a knitted fabric in the process of knitting by using a flat knitting machine, which method is particularly suitable for use in binding off at the part of the knitted fabric that wants stretch.
There has been proposed a knitting method of knitting a knitted fabric which is called an integral garment, wherein when knitting by use of a flat knitting machine, the knitted fabric is finished by binding off to prevent loosening of stitches at the end thereof or by knitting into a desired form, so as to simplify the tail end process after knitting of the knitted fabric. Also, there have been proposed a variety of further advanced knitting methods of a knitting a knitted fabric which is called a seamlessly knitted fabric, wherein the knitted fabric is knitted in the form of a nearly completed product on the flat knitting machine, so as to practically eliminate the need of the tail end process such as the sewing operation. Taking the method of knitting a sweater 1 shown in FIG. 1 as an example, a knitting method of the seamlessly knitted fabric will be described. The sweater 1 starts in knitting from ribbed hems 9 of front and back bodies 3, 5 and from cuffs 11a, 11b of left and right sleeves 7a, 7b and is gradually shaped while the front and back bodies 3, 5 and the sleeves 7a, 7b are knitted toward their respective sides at which they start to be joined to each other. At the respective sides of the sweater, the left and right sleeves are shifted toward their respective bodies 3, 5 and then are joined thereto. After the front and back bodies 3, 5 and the sleeves 7a, 7b are joined, the loops in the final courses of the front and back bodies 3, 5 are joined at the shoulder lines 17a, 17b. Finally, the neck 13 is formed. In this manner, the sweater 1 is knitted in the form of a seamlessly knitted fabric that requires no substantial tail end process. The final course of the neck of the sweater 1 is cast off in a knitting manner that is called the binding off process. The binding off process is the process in which a loop in the final course of the knitted fabric is laid over the next to form a double loop; then a loop of the next course is formed on the double loop; further the newly formed loop is laid over the next to form a loop of the next course; and this knitting is repeatedly performed from one side of the knitted fabric to the other side thereof, whereby the loops of the final course of the knitted fabric are cast off.
Referring now to FIG. 11 showing a knitting course diagram and FIG. 12 showing the looping of the knitted fabric that was subjected to the binding off process by the knitting shown in FIG. 11, a conventional binding off method will be described. The course 0 of FIG. 11 shows the state of a tubular knitted fabric before binding off process in which a front knitted fabric portion 201 held on needles B, D, F, . . . and a back knitted fabric portion 203 held on needles a, c, e, . . . are continuously connected at both ends thereof. In the course 1 of FIG. 11, a yarn is fed to needles T, R to form loops 211, 213 subsequent to loops in the final course of the knitted fabric and, then, a yarn feeder 915 is shifted rightward. Thereafter, in the course 2, the loops 211, 213 at the needles T, R are transferred to a back bed. In the course 3, those loops are transferred further to needles P, R, so that a double loop is formed with a loop 221 in the final course of the knitted fabric at the needle P. In the course the yarn is fed to the needles R, P to form loops 215, 217 of the next course. In this manner, the number of loops held on the needles decreases by one loop from the number of loops of the course 0. The knitting shown in the courses 1 to 3 is repeatedly performed, proceeding to the left to which the binding off process proceeds, to finish the binding off process of the front knitted fabric portion 201. Thereafter, the knitting is repeatedly performed, proceeding reversely from the left to the right, to finish the binding off process of the back knitted fabric portion 203.
When undergoing the binding off process mentioned above, the knitted fabric comes into the state shown in FIG. 12 (which shows only a part of the front knitted fabric portion 201 around the location at which the binding off process is started). Of the loops formed in the course 1 and the course 4, the loops 213, 217 formed to the left, which is the same direction as the proceeding direction of the binding off process, are laid over loops 221, 223 of the final course of the knitted fabric in an intersecting relation, so as to extend from the starting point of the binding off process to the termination point. Likewise, the loops 211, 215 formed to the right, which is the opposite direction to the proceeding direction of the binding off process, are also laid in an intersecting relation to the loops of the final course of the knitted fabric, so as to extend in parallel with the loops 213, 217. The loops that are laid over the loops in the final course of the knitted fabric in the intersecting relation to the loops 221, 223 in the final course of the knitted fabric so that the adjoining loops in the final course of the knitted fabric are connected to each other, like the loops 213, 217, and the loops that are formed in the process of the biding off process, to extend along the final course of the knitted fabric, like the loops 211, 215 that are formed in parallel with the loops 213, 217, are both referred to as xe2x80x9cthe binding-off loopxe2x80x9d in the following description. The binding-off loops that are formed in double wale are referred to as xe2x80x9cdouble binding-off loopsxe2x80x9d, and the binding-off loops that are formed in triple wale are referred to as xe2x80x9ctriple binding-off loopsxe2x80x9d.
In the integral garment or the seamlessly knitted fabric, the fabric knitted on the flat knitting machine is directly presented in the form of a part of the knitted product. Accordingly, the fabric is required to be knitted so as to have the requirements for each part of the knit goods, such as stetchability, toughness and good appearance. When wearing the sweater 1 mentioned above, the neck 13 it often stretched out under the action force. If the neck 13 is poor in stretch, there arise the problems that when wearing the sweater, a thread breakage is caused to produce snag stretch or the neck 13 is overstretched to be visually undesirable. In the case of the knitted fabric that was subjected to the conventional binding off process illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12, when it is stretched in a horizontal direction under the action force, the loops 211, 213 and the loops 217, 225, which are connected to the loops 219, 221, 223 in the final course of the knitted fabric, are both simultaneously strained horizontally, so that they cannot be stretched any further. Thus, the conventional binding off method fails to provide sufficient stretch for the part of the knitted fabric that wants high stretch, such as the neck 13, thus providing the disadvantages that the thread breakage is caused and that it is hard for one""s head to insert through the neck 13.
To try to solve the problems, there has been proposed a binding off method in which in the step between the completion of the knitting of the course 1 of FIG. 11 and the start of the knitting of the course 2 of FIG. 11, the yarn is fed to the needles R, T in the process of the shift of the yarn feeder 95 to the right side, so that each time when two courses of binding-off loops are formed, they are laid over the loops in the final course. However, this binding off method has the problem that since the knitted fabric subjected to this binding off process comes to have an increased number of courses of binding-off loops, even when no force acts on the knitted fabric, the bound off part is stretched out and slackened, or the spaces between the loops in the final course of the knitted fabric are widened as if they appear to be in holes. The present invention aims to disclose a novel binding off method that can provide an excellent stretchability such that when a force acts on the knitted fabric, the bound off part is fully stretched, while on the other hand, when no force acts thereon, it is contracted closely.
In the light of the problems mentioned above, the present invention provides a novel binding off method, excellent in stretchability, to bind off in knitting an end of a knitted fabric by use of a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, either or both of which are structured to be racked horizontally. The method comprises:
(a) the step that except a needle holding thereon a wale loop, located upstream of a proceeding direction of a binding off process, of the wale loops which are to be formed into binding off loops in a final course of a knitted fabric to be subjected to the binding off process, a yarn is fed to the remaining needles holding the wale loops thereon in the proceeding direction of the binding off process, to form a first course of binding off loops,
(b) the step that a yarn feeder is reversed and, except the needle holding thereon a wale loop, located downstream of the proceeding direction of the binding off process, of the wale loops which are to be formed into the binding off loops, the yarn is fed to the remaining needles in an opposite direction to the proceeding direction of the binding off process, to form the next course of binding off loops,
(c) the step that the binding off loops formed in the step (a) and the step (b) are shifted to the proceeding direction of the binding off process and are laid over the loops in the final course of the knitted fabric adjoining to the binding off loops of the wale located downstream of the proceeding direction of the binding off process, to form a double loop, and
(d) the step that the knitting of the steps (a) to (c) are repeatedly performed to the loops in the final course of the knitted fabric located in the proceeding direction of the binding off process. According to this constitution of the present invention, the intermediate wale loops formed between the downstream wale loops and the upstream wale loops are allowed to have the number of courses twice as much as the downstream wale loops and the upstream wale loops. As a result of this, the cross-over yarn connecting between the downstream wale loops and the intermediate wale loops comes to crossover the intermediate wale loops which are formed in the different courses. Likewise, the cross-over yarn connecting between the upstream wale loops and the intermediate wale loops comes to cross over the intermediate wale loops which are formed in the different courses.
In the binding off method above, in advance of the form of intermediate wale loops of the binding off loops from which downstream wale loops and upstream wale loops are excluded, the intermediate wale loops are transferred to an opposed needle bed, and loops of the next course are formed in the form of the back stitches on the opposed needle bed and then are transferred back to the original needle bed, whereby at least one course of intermediate wale loops are formed in the form of the back stitches, which is one of the characteristic features of the present invention. According to this constitution of the present invention, the cross-over yarn connecting between the downstream wale loop formed in the form of the front stitch and the intermediate wale loops formed in the form of the back stitches and between the upstream wale loop formed in the form of the front stitch and the intermediate wale loop formed in the form of the back stitch comes to increase in length, as compared with the case where the intermediate wale loops are knitted in the form of the front stitches.
Also, the present invention provides a novel method of binding off in knitting an end of a knitted fabric by use of a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, at least one of which is structured to be racked horizontally, the method comprises:
(a) the step that a yarn is fed to two adjoining wale loops in a final course of a knitted fabric to be subjected to a binding off process in accordance with a proceeding direction of the binding off process, to form a first course of binding off loops,
(b) the step that a yarn feeder is reversed and a bonding off loop of the next course is formed at a wale loop located upstream of the proceeding direction of the binding off process,
(c) the step that the binding off loops formed in the step (a) and the step (b) are shifted to the proceeding direction of the binding off process and the wale loop located downstream of the proceeding direction of the binding off process is laid over the adjoining loop in the final course of the knitted fabric, to form a double loop, and
(d) the step that the knitting of the steps (a) to (c) are repeatedly performed to the loops in the final course of the knitted fabric located in the proceeding direction of the binding off process. According to this constitution of the present invention, the upstream wale loops are allowed to have the number of courses twice as much as the downstream wale loops. As a result of this, a pair of cross-over yarns connecting between the downstream wale loops and the upstream wale loops comes to cross over the upstream wale loops which are formed in the different courses.